Satan from hence, now on the lower stair, That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate, Looks down with wonder at the sudden view Of all this World at once. As when a scout, Through dark and desert ways with peril gone All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill, Which to his eye discovers unaware The goodly prospect of some foreign land First seen, or some renowned metropolis With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned, Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams: Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen, The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized, At sight of all this World beheld so fair. Round he surveys (and well might where he stood, So high above the circling canopy Of Night’s extended shade) from eastern point Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears Andromeda far off Atlantic seas Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole He views in breadth; and, without longer pause, Down right into the World’s first region throws His flight precipitant, and winds with ease